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The new AFM International Executive Board members – including our own President John Acosta – being sworn in at the 100th Convention. (Photo: Bonnie Janofsky)

Exciting news to share from the American Federation of Musicians 100th Convention: Our own Local 47 President John Acosta has been elected to serve on the International Executive Board.

Running on the Team Unity slate, as a member of the IEB Acosta will act as a conduit to bring the concerns of our Los Angeles music community directly to our international leadership. Continue reading →

“I am happy to report that our referendum has qualified with over 3,200 Ballots cast! Not only did the referendum qualify, 80% of those ballots cast said ‘yes,’ in an overwhelming majority vote in favor of selling and relocating. What an exciting time for our Union! Continue reading →

As 2015 comes to a close I thought it would be appropriate to review the first year of my administration, a little self-analysis if you will. We began the year embarking on a controversial, yet in my opinion overdue, review of our recording agreements. At the January Inaugural meeting the members voted to create a Task Force to review our Film & TV contracts, and to deliberate on whether or not a “buyout” agreement made sense for musicians in our Union. This question has consumed the AFM for many years and has been bandied about in membership meetings, on session breaks, on social media and on the blogs, but never has any administration been brave enough or dumb enough (or both) to formally pose this to the rank and file. After many months of research and discussion, the Task Force made its recommendations to the membership, but most importantly to our International. These recommendations can be found on our website in the members’ area. Continue reading →

Many of you have expressed a desire to know the next steps planned now that the Motion Picture/TV Employment Task Force report was delivered back in April. I urge you to read the officer reports in Overture to stay up to date on all that is going on, but I’d like to take this opportunity to bring you squarely up to the minute on where we are with progress.

Unions are complicated, with diverse constituencies and interests. This is particularly true for the American Federation of Musicians, which represents musicians working in many different fields of employment. Local 47 stands as a local voice for Los Angeles’s rank-and-file musicians within the AFM.

When musicians “go fi-core,” they are quitting the Union, and no longer accept Union representation. Fi-core is a rejection of wage standards, benefits, and protections for musicians, negotiated by fellow musicians backed by their Union representatives and ratified in a democratic process.Fi-core means becoming a Non-Member who pays a representation fee to Local 47, but who is without a voice or a vote, without a role in protecting middle-class incomes for current and future musicians. Fi-core is giving in to and supporting the interests of the employers that sit across the table from us.Musicians need a Union, and musicians need union. We are protected only when we support each other and work together. Whether we are employed in live TV, commercials, musical theater, full-time orchestras, regional orchestras, film or television; whether we are in bands on the road or in clubs; whether we are beginning, in the midst of, or nearing the end of a career; we are all protected by staying together. Torn apart, we are at the mercy of forces whose sole purpose is to wring out our talents and squeeze our compensation to maximize the profit for the companies they serve.

When you go fi-core, you are turning your back on every musician who went before you, who stood up against injustice and poverty wages and whose efforts you benefit from today. A divided Union is exactly what will benefit the employers the most. When you go fi-core it hurts every other musician the Local must bargain on behalf of.We can be better. There is no alternative. Help make our Union strong.

Fraternally yours,John AcostaPresident, AFM Local 47

If you have questions about what it really means to go fi-core, please feel welcome to contact me: 323.993.3181

AFM Local 47 members vote in John Acosta as President, Rick Baptist as VP

John Acosta

LOS ANGELES, CA (Dec. 16, 2014) — Members of the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 have elected new leadership, with current vice president John Acosta rising rank as the union’s new president.

Replacing Acosta as vice president and joining the Local 47 executive board for the first time is veteran studio musician Rick Baptist. Gary Lasley will serve a third term as secretary/treasurer. Acosta succeeds Vince Trombetta, who has been president of the Los Angeles musicians union since 2009. All three titled officers ran unopposed in the Local 47 general election held on Dec. 9. Continue reading →